


that systematic drug

by frausorge



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, San Jose Sharks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 19:44:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19302547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frausorge/pseuds/frausorge
Summary: Olive juice? That sounds disgusting.





	that systematic drug

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [PuckingRare2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/PuckingRare2019) collection. 



> **Prompt:**  
>     
> Tomas Hertl/Tommy Wingels
> 
> An oldie but a goodie! Something fluffy and adorable and sweet!
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks to L for looking this over. Inspired by [this video](http://www.dereferer.org/?https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eyoutube%2Ecom%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DPf00LYpqva4). Title from the Mowgli's.

The lip reading thing is going ok. There are some words Tomáš can't get Tommy to guess no matter how often he repeats them, but others go fine, enough that Tomáš doesn't feel too embarrassed about his English pronunciation overall. Finally he's given the last phrase of his turn, and he can't help blinking. Olive juice? That sounds disgusting. It's not the weirdest thing he's seen Americans drink, though. Maybe it's a California thing.

Tommy blinks too, the first time Tomáš says the phrase. Tomáš repeats it. Then recognition strikes Tommy's face. "I know this one!" he says, looking over at Missy behind the camera. "I know this one." He turns back to Tomáš, shaking his head sarcastically, and says, "I love you too!"

Tomáš doesn't understand what just happened. He laughs along so that he won't have to say anything.

He makes it through the other half of the game fairly well, all things considered. The stress bubbles out of him in helpless giggles after every phrase, but he gets more than half of them right anyway, so at least Tommy won't be able to chirp him too much about that later.

Tomáš waits till they're in Tommy's car to ask for an explanation. "Tommy—" 

"Oh, here we go," Tommy says. He sounds angry all of a sudden. 

"I can't ask?" Tomáš says.

"I know what you're going to ask," Tommy says. "It was a trick, ok? They were trying to trick me into thinking you said something you didn't, to make me say what I said. But I've heard that one before, so I just went ahead and said it anyway, and that's all there is to it. A dumbass prank. Now can we please just drop it?"

Tomáš blinks. That outburst went by way too fast for him to follow, and he's not sure that he'd understand what the prank was about even if he had. It's certainly clear that Tommy's unhappy about it, though, so Tomáš nods and says, "For sure." 

Tommy sighs and resettles his hands on the steering wheel.

"You want to come in?" Tomáš says when Tommy pulls up outside his building.

"Not today," Tommy says. "I'll see you at practice tomorrow, all right?"

Tomáš tries to give Tommy his best reassuring smile. "Of course."

 

After dinner, Tomáš googles _olive juice_. He clicks through a series of cocktail recipes and health freak websites and closes out of those tabs with a shudder.

Finally, near the end of the first page of search results, he finds a more informative link.

 _Olive juice,_ he mouths to himself, trying to test the shape against what he's just read. How do Americans say those vowels? _Olive juice._

Despite Tommy's request, he doesn't see how he can possibly just drop this.

 

Tommy looks up and grins when Tomáš comes into the locker room the next day, and Tomáš begins to hope he's calmed down again. Then Chris walks in and says, "Hey Wings, heard you made a big confession yesterday." Tomáš can see Tommy's mouth tighten in irritation.

Tomáš gets ready as fast as he can, hoping to catch Tommy before they have to get on the ice, but Tommy seems to be rushing too. He picks up his helmet and heads down the tunnel while Tomáš is still lacing his skates. 

They can't really talk during practice, but Tomáš makes a point of skating over to hip-check Tommy when they line up for the first drill. Tommy's answering smile is strained but clear. Tomáš feels a little better. He pokes at Tommy's calves with the toe of his stick until Tommy turns and shoulders him into the boards. 

After practice, Tomáš doesn't bother trying to rush. He heads directly to Tommy's stall instead and waits there, still in his full gear, until Tommy shows up. 

"I'm hungry," Tomáš says. 

"Sorry to hear that, buddy, must be rough."

"Take me to eat."

Tommy takes off his gloves and turns to look at Tomáš. "Fine," he says.

"No leaving without me!" Tomáš says.

Tommy rolls his eyes, grinning, and turns away again to pull his jersey off over his head.

 

By the time Tomáš is done getting showered and dressed, Tommy looks rather sullen again, poking half-heartedly at his phone. 

"Burritos?" Tomáš says, nudging Tommy's knee with his bag.

"Sure," Tommy says with a sigh.

Tomáš doesn't bring up anything serious while they're driving. He asks Tommy what kind of jacket he should bring on the upcoming road trip, and that leads them into a review of winters in the American Midwest compared to those in Prague, with a detour into the distinction between a jacket and a coat, which keeps them going all the way till they get to the restaurant. Once there, Tomáš is too hungry to focus on anything but ordering and eating as fast as possible. It's not till their plates are nearly empty that he wipes his mouth with his napkin and sits up in his chair.

"Tommy," he says. 

"Mmhm?" Tommy says, crumpling the last scraps of the foil wrapper and licking sauce off the side of his hand.

"Hey." Tomáš kicks at Tommy's foot under the table. Then finally Tommy looks up.

"I love you," Tomáš tells him.

Tommy's face goes blank. "What," he says.

"I say I love you. Now your turn!" Tomáš gestures at Tommy with his hand.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"In the video," Tomáš says carefully, "they try to trick you. Yes? They make you say you love me, even though I did not say so to you. But I do. So now I tell you, really, I love you. So you can tell me too, and not—you don't need to feel embarrassed."

Tommy blinks. Then he smiles, a tense, pained smile that's nothing like what Tomáš was hoping to see. "Tomáš," he says. "Buddy. That's really sweet, but—" He bites his lip and sighs. "Fine, ok. I love you too, all right? Thank you for saying that. I love you, too."

He does not look happy at all. Tomáš kicks his foot again. "But?"

Tommy shakes his head. 

Tomáš kicks again. "Tommy!"

"I just—look, let's just say we probably don't mean that quite the same way. That's all. Don't freak out on me, ok? It's fine."

Tomáš stops kicking and nudges his foot up alongside Tommy's. "I think maybe we do," he says.

Tommy turns his head back sharply to look at Tomáš. His eyes are perfectly round.

"Tomáš—you—"

Tomáš smiles at him.

"You wanna get out of here?" Tommy finishes.

"For sure," Tomáš says.

 

Tommy drives them back to his own place, which Tomáš approves of because it's significantly closer. They don't talk in the car, and Tommy keeps his eyes firmly fixed on the road. He does meet Tomáš's eyes once they're in the elevator in his building. Tomáš grins at him again.

As soon as the door closes behind them, Tommy yanks Tomáš close and kisses him. Tomáš wraps his arms around Tommy and gives himself over to the heat of Tommy's lips.

"I—" Tommy says, breaking away from Tomáš's mouth only to press his words against the curve of Tomáš's neck. "You—you don't even know, I just—so fucking much—"

"I love you, too," Tomáš says, and holds on with all his strength.


End file.
